EvaluationEvaluation

Following ConventionsFollowing Conventions

I don't believe we have fully challenged I don't believe we have fully challenged any Thriller conventions as it appears any Thriller conventions as it appears

very 'cheesy' and expected. This is very 'cheesy' and expected. This is quite a vague statement, i do believe to quite a vague statement, i do believe to a certain extent that we did challenge a certain extent that we did challenge

the norms as we did attempt to the norms as we did attempt to compose something fresh to the scene. compose something fresh to the scene. Although the film we have made can be Although the film we have made can be categorized back to our main influences categorized back to our main influences

due to narration, narrative or the due to narration, narrative or the structure/style.structure/style.

Our Unique ApproachOur Unique Approach Our opening is unlike any Our opening is unlike any

conventional drama (drug conventional drama (drug based) Thriller as it has a based) Thriller as it has a unique approach due to unique approach due to the flash back transitions. the flash back transitions. Our establishing shots are Our establishing shots are unique in approach as the unique in approach as the main character enters the main character enters the scene very smoothly with scene very smoothly with no elaborate entrance (in no elaborate entrance (in hopes to convey a hopes to convey a message that she is of no message that she is of no importance reflecting the importance reflecting the characters personal characters personal feelings subconsciously feelings subconsciously into the audience).into the audience).

Isolation in ThrillersIsolation in ThrillersMost Thrillers show the 'eeriness' Most Thrillers show the 'eeriness'

through isolated locations; we through isolated locations; we followed this convention in the first followed this convention in the first

scene although throughout the scene although throughout the flashbacks we wanted to portray a flashbacks we wanted to portray a

different type of isolation. We different type of isolation. We wanted to show an isolation that's wanted to show an isolation that's

represented through an represented through an individual’s feelings and mind and, individual’s feelings and mind and, not generically through a physical not generically through a physical representation. Towards the end representation. Towards the end of our opening we did have an of our opening we did have an isolated setting to create that isolated setting to create that

sense of unsettlement, although sense of unsettlement, although during the play ground scene we during the play ground scene we hoped it was obvious to viewers hoped it was obvious to viewers

that this little girl is alone in what that this little girl is alone in what she does. We hoped the feeling of she does. We hoped the feeling of

abandonment mirrored onto abandonment mirrored onto audience members so they can audience members so they can

feel alone and unsettled during the feel alone and unsettled during the film to create tension and film to create tension and

suspense within them.suspense within them.

Our AimOur AimThe POV (point of view) shots are a simple example of where we concentrated The POV (point of view) shots are a simple example of where we concentrated

on our originality and did attempt to challenge normal conventions on our originality and did attempt to challenge normal conventions (although it has be done before). It’s purpose was to heighten the tense (although it has be done before). It’s purpose was to heighten the tense atmosphere to create an unsettled mood. We used the POV shots from atmosphere to create an unsettled mood. We used the POV shots from

Halloween as an inspiration to create some thing refreshing.Halloween as an inspiration to create some thing refreshing.

Combining all the elements of;Combining all the elements of;

• Deep philosophical narratives Deep philosophical narratives • Gruesome and grotesque realism Gruesome and grotesque realism

• Creative and abstract visuals Creative and abstract visuals • Experimental camera work Experimental camera work • Experimental editing, with Experimental editing, with

• Calming somber soundtracks’ Calming somber soundtracks’

I believe we have developed something that's creatively innovated.I believe we have developed something that's creatively innovated.

The Running Character

With many escapist themed (drug based) films there seems to be a common link.

The idea of running, this clearly represents the idea and meaning of

escapism to viewers very well and, is commonly used. Although in the context

of our opening I think we portrayed in quite differently. For example Anna subtly appears in a landscape shot. Whereas a film like Trainspotting throws audiences straight into the action of the character.

Drug FilmsDrug FilmsIt seems quite taboo to truly show a lifestyle of a drug such as heroin. Many films like It seems quite taboo to truly show a lifestyle of a drug such as heroin. Many films like

Requiem for a Dream and Trainspotting don’t convey the essence of that lifestyle Requiem for a Dream and Trainspotting don’t convey the essence of that lifestyle choice. So our approach was to break the conventions and cause a controversy choice. So our approach was to break the conventions and cause a controversy

due to the representation of an individuals mind, body and life.due to the representation of an individuals mind, body and life.

Some may argue that the toilet scene in Trainspotting was enough realism and Some may argue that the toilet scene in Trainspotting was enough realism and enough disgust. This may cause problems as we could be narrowing our audience enough disgust. This may cause problems as we could be narrowing our audience too much, although our audience is still out there as it’s said that viewers wish to too much, although our audience is still out there as it’s said that viewers wish to see shocking horrors/drama’s as they find it a cathartic experience. But audience see shocking horrors/drama’s as they find it a cathartic experience. But audience may think Trainspotting was quite an obscene film as it shows the rehabilitation may think Trainspotting was quite an obscene film as it shows the rehabilitation

process which may have made and impression on some viewers, there's also fight process which may have made and impression on some viewers, there's also fight scenes yet and many other shocking moments. Audiences must remember, scenes yet and many other shocking moments. Audiences must remember,

Trainspotting is a comedy, there's a huge comical style to the film. Requiem of a Trainspotting is a comedy, there's a huge comical style to the film. Requiem of a Dream on the other hand is more of a love story and shows the breakdown of Dream on the other hand is more of a love story and shows the breakdown of

friendship dynamics due to drugs. This is where our film stretches the truth, and friendship dynamics due to drugs. This is where our film stretches the truth, and opens way for realism. We hope to concentrate on drugs as a focus point and use opens way for realism. We hope to concentrate on drugs as a focus point and use broken homed families, relationships as narrative strands rather than using drugs broken homed families, relationships as narrative strands rather than using drugs as a narrative strand. This is a headstrong view which is inspired from the British as a narrative strand. This is a headstrong view which is inspired from the British

film makers that concentrate on strong narratives and realism that destroys film makers that concentrate on strong narratives and realism that destroys naivety and ignorance amongst viewers.naivety and ignorance amongst viewers.

Our AudienceOur Audience

Our film is based on urban territory; it will Our film is based on urban territory; it will show the back alleys of city life. Our film show the back alleys of city life. Our film may relate/should relate more to people may relate/should relate more to people living in suburban city life or city life (any living in suburban city life or city life (any busy lifestyle setting). I don't believe you busy lifestyle setting). I don't believe you have to know anything about drugs or be have to know anything about drugs or be into the drug scene to have an interest in into the drug scene to have an interest in

the film. It's in many peoples nature to the film. It's in many peoples nature to gossip, to be nose and to gain an insight gossip, to be nose and to gain an insight

into how someone else lives their life (e.g., into how someone else lives their life (e.g., the popularity and success of Jeremy Kyle). the popularity and success of Jeremy Kyle).

Someone living in the city may feel lonely at Someone living in the city may feel lonely at times (this is quite common) and I feel it's times (this is quite common) and I feel it's relatable to our main character who feels relatable to our main character who feels

alone and finds the only to deal with it is to alone and finds the only to deal with it is to go to extremes. This allows a diverse go to extremes. This allows a diverse

number of viewers to connect with the film, number of viewers to connect with the film, allowing them to fully engage in it and allowing them to fully engage in it and

hopefully enjoy it.hopefully enjoy it.

Broken Britain

Considering the present day Britain is known as 'broken' Britain I think the neglected

childhood would win over audience's more so than the drug element. Again there's a taboo surrounding this in the media today. Examples of baby Pete have shown huge interest in the regulations and approach around child care and civil service in this

country and it'll be a perfect time to release a film that contains such strong

issues of relevant time.

I believe our audience will not be as narrow I believe our audience will not be as narrow as just a drug interested group but rather as just a drug interested group but rather a group of viewers a group of viewers that are also interested are also interested

in current affairs. It's also known that in current affairs. It's also known that Britain’s teenagers are 'out of control' and Britain’s teenagers are 'out of control' and Britain is ranked 13th highest in Europe for Britain is ranked 13th highest in Europe for

its teenage alcohol consumption which its teenage alcohol consumption which proves it to be some what of an epidemic. proves it to be some what of an epidemic. Binge drinking is rather excessive and this Binge drinking is rather excessive and this alcoholic world coincides slightly with the alcoholic world coincides slightly with the drug world and the idea of escapism from drug world and the idea of escapism from problems so, again audience members can problems so, again audience members can

find a connection with the film.find a connection with the film.

Audience Interests

The film is not going to be of a mainstream thriller or drama. It won't keep a blanket over viewer’s

eyes and paint pretty pictures of couples surviving tornados. Nor is the film going to

contain large fires and explosions or slaughtering someone to the bones. What I’m trying to say is

that this film would appeal to someone who has a more creative eye and who is looking for film as an art form rather than an extended television program. The film is also mainly for someone

looking for a raw horrific experience exposing the realism of dramatic occurrences in an extreme

lifestyle.

Viewer recommendation:

Trainspotting Ex Drummer

Requiem for a Dream Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas first sceneFear and Loathing in Las Vegas first scene

Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database

Top Five FilmsTop Five Films

Drug FilmsDrug Films

1. Requiem for a Dream1. Requiem for a Dream

2. Scarface2. Scarface

3. Fear and Loathing in Las 3. Fear and Loathing in Las VegasVegas

4. Blow4. Blow

5. Trainspotting5. Trainspotting

www.the-top-tens.com

Thrillers FilmsThrillers Films

1. Pulp Fiction1. Pulp Fiction

2. The Dark Knight2. The Dark Knight

3. Star Wars V3. Star Wars V

4. Rear Window4. Rear Window

5. Cidade de Deus 5. Cidade de Deus

www.IMDB.comwww.IMDB.com

DistributionDistribution

Well I understand the scale of distribution will not be on a grand scale. Knowing that the British film industry is in the

shadows of Hollywood I don't see national acknowledgment of it. I don’t

see New Line distribution taking on such a small scale project. Although there are some organizations that specialize and

work with low scale British film directors such as Microwave.

MicrowaveMicrowave

Microwave films have recently distributed Microwave films have recently distributed the successful Mum & Dad; this is a the successful Mum & Dad; this is a

horror/drama/thriller. It's worked with a horror/drama/thriller. It's worked with a budget of under £100,000 and was shot in budget of under £100,000 and was shot in

an intense 17 days. The film is based an intense 17 days. The film is based around local settings and its sole intent around local settings and its sole intent was to imprint horror into audiences. It was to imprint horror into audiences. It deals with extreme issues of parenting, deals with extreme issues of parenting,

child care and alcoholism. The film fits the child care and alcoholism. The film fits the style of Clouds very well and, I think the style of Clouds very well and, I think the

idea of clouds could be taken into idea of clouds could be taken into consideration for a new project.consideration for a new project.

Fright Fest

Microwave films organized the film to appear at a small London film festival dedicated to horrors.

The video shows audience's comments, actor and director comments. You hear the actors describe the script to be almost unbearable. The audience members also state the film is too close to home, literally! So it shows the reliability factor and the real intent to make an impression on viewers. All

in the style Clouds is trying to achieve. With a film like Mum & Dad audience's comments are crucial

as it'll carry the film through due to the phenomenon of word-and-mouth distribution.

“This was a more unusual proposition from a confident director and producer team. The idea of doing a surreal London-set thriller was appealing to the panel.The director has a strong visual style that showed in both his reel and in the script, which was a good selling point. This is very important, as although the budgets might be tight for Microwave this doesn’t mean the films should look micro-budget. We felt this team could definitely pull that off.”

Quoted from Microwave film website

This shows that the direction Clouds is going towards is defiantly in

style with other films Microwave are planning to fund and distribute.

Attracting AudiencesWe attract our main target audiences through our narrative,

as our storylines and script are crucial to generating the appeal and relatability to audiences. The drugs narrative

strand will capture the minds of all those in the drugs scene and whom are interested in other drug based films. Having drugs as a central focus point a unique

filming style had to be adopted to portray an alternative and distorted perspective. Our shots are canted,

experimental and have unique fluid movements to engulf audience members into the mind and emotions of our

character.

The fact that it's set in suburban London would hopefully appeal and relate to many people. Our Urban, isolated

locations may be enough to entice viewers.

Technical

With the technical side of things we did have a few problems. There were slight moments where we struggled to keep the camera steady. This was

due to us not having the appropriate equipment for the awkward camera angles we were

attempting. We chose to do many shots in a point of view style and this required hand held (shaky)

camera work. We learnt to work around the problems and embrace new ideas with what we

were able to work with.

Camera Work

With the previous unit of the A level (unit 1) we learnt the theory behind camera work and how it manipulates viewers. We took this on board through out when coming up with ideas, designing the story boards

and with using the camera during sessions. There's many techniques such as pans that don't conventionally pan to the left and

right, this allows more artistic representations and allows us to highlight certain moments in a unique fashion.

Our intention was to be very experiment with camera shots, framing and movement to put across an alternative perspective that’s no

quite the norm. This was to portray the mind of our character and to set across the mood of our film successfully. Looking at films such as Requiem for a Dream and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, they

use very complex shots that set across more hallucinogenic and distorted views, we hoped to have replicated this style with our own

interpretation.

Sound

Particularly with Thrillers the impact of music/the soundtrack Particularly with Thrillers the impact of music/the soundtrack is huge on the audience. It allows simple messages to be is huge on the audience. It allows simple messages to be

conveyed with a strong impact. We learnt that a script is conveyed with a strong impact. We learnt that a script is crucial to understanding the characters mood, personality crucial to understanding the characters mood, personality

and other characteristics. With the use of our somber piano and other characteristics. With the use of our somber piano we established quite a depression atmosphere; this was we established quite a depression atmosphere; this was

done before any introduction to the character, before done before any introduction to the character, before anything was initially said. We managed to put across the anything was initially said. We managed to put across the

theme and style of the film in the first few seconds. The theme and style of the film in the first few seconds. The narration (voice over) was parallel with the music in hopes narration (voice over) was parallel with the music in hopes

of having an overwhelming effect on viewers. We of having an overwhelming effect on viewers. We composed the soundtrack ourselves to create as best we composed the soundtrack ourselves to create as best we

could the ideal diegetic music that would be a trademark to could the ideal diegetic music that would be a trademark to the opening (and the film as a whole)the opening (and the film as a whole)

Framing

Our unique approach was strongly to do with our style of filming. We spent plenty of time deliberating over the framing of the shots and the

movement. A shot at the beginning begins with the drain on the side of the street in central positioning then, the character Anna begins to

enter the frame. The camera then, pans her at a rather awkward angle. This is one of many complex shots we attempted. With this one shot

we hoped to establish the idea that Anna could be parallel to the gutter, in a symbolic sense that she is rejected from society. We hoped it

would highlight her shadowed life of living amongst the streets.

The shot before then was rather complex as it begins panning over rooftops and then we see Anna entering the scene from a far distance.

This was to convey Anna’s distance from you the viewer; it was to show her isolation from society as she runs away from it and runs to

her abandoned sanctuary.

Recording

We tried recording the narration with a standard computer microphone and realized the voice

sounded quite hollow. We got advised to record it with a blanket of some sort placed over the person recording to allow a better quality of

sound. This made a huge difference as, when you listen to the narration now you can feel the

intimacy of the character. The piano was recording onto a laptop microphone; there was

no other way possible to do so. Computer software allowed us to manipulate the music with the use of the equalizer to allow a more

professional sound.

The Process

OverviewOverviewWell first thoughts on looking back I’m very proud of

the opening. It does seem to be quite enigmatic, possibly too much so. It seems watching it without

referencing to the treatment it may seem impossible to figure out what’s going on. The narration and

visuals are very abstract this means that audience members will have to decode the implications. It

seems the opening is encoded with the narrative. Although this may seem as though there’s no

continuative structure, this is exactly what we hoped for. To set up a story that’s vague and creatively

expressive, we wished to steer away from telling the audience anything in the opening minutes. I felt we achieved on setting the mood and establishing the

genres. We have gone very wrong if audiences knew the narrative within the first few minutes, as this

would not be an opening but a trailer!

I felt as though I was carrying the group quite a bit, I was trying desperately hard to

motivate other students to do the tasks that were allocated to them. For the last 3 weeks

before the film was due in (in the crucial moments on construction) it seems the

group had completely fallen apart and there were only 2 of us left (me included – out of

5).

Paper Work

It took far longer for our group to complete all the paper work as group members priorities were

not media. It seems during our filming sessions onwards we had to work with busy schedules in

order to complete the film on time. It seems next time if I undergo such a task I shall want to want

with people who can organize themselves a lot better. Time management amongst the group

was rather poor as, people would turn up late or not turn up at all.

ResearchI believe we could have done more research

into thrillers as we didn’t have a clear understanding of what we were doing before hand. It seems whilst we were

filming and editing our intentions became clearer and more refined. I drew up the first

basic story boards and this weren’t developed amongst the group, it seems

there was not much input from the group for much of the work.

Filming Sessions

I thought our locations were well chosen. Working in the playground proved to be rather difficult as there were

so many inconvenient circumstances such as not having available swings, people obstructing the shots. We had a second filming session early in the morning when the play ground was empty to allow us to shoot

our desired shots. With our clever editing tactics we managed to show continuity through out our shots.

Luckily I’ve had previous editing experience although I felt in order to improve I had to be more adventurous

and gutsy in order to progress. For example one of my favorite sequences is when younger Anna is spinning

round the roundabout and a ‘strobe’ effect occurs when you see an extreme close up of her eyes.

Pre Production

During the filming sessions it seems we used the storyboards as a very basic guide to help us filming

shots that will show a continuity action. Throughout the editing process we had no guidance from the

storyboard. It seems all our pre production was to a very poor standard and it seems we saw the

consequences through the struggle of constructing something we couldn’t clearly perceive. During filming

sessions we wouldn’t know what to film first; it was a matter of us guessing what shots we could do. This

caused us stress; we had no editing script to work with or a daily production schedule that was accurate. This

taught me the importance of planning any work as it makes a smoother and easier process.

Zoe ChristoZoe Christo